msuroo

Ugh, this is tough. I'm fortunate that at least my wife isn't actively un-supportive, but she definitely takes issue with the diet/exercise. I'm pretty sure she was hoping this was going to be just another hobby I was going to pick up and let slide in a month (which I've definitely been known to do), and is frustrated because that isn't the case. I get "You're obsessive!" a lot these days. Then she gets upset when I spend time bantering about here, but when I try to talk to her about fitness she doesn't want to hear it. Anyway, I really hope you can work stuff out with him tonight. Congrats on everything else though - you're kicking ass!

You might be surprised. Once you rack a couple power cleans, you feel very...badass. There's a RWAAWWR feel about it. Anyway, it took me a while to get it right, but I love them. I don't know about extremely light. Rip says don't try it with a broomstick - you need at least the bar to get the right feel. Obviously everyone is different, but I find even the bar is too light. It's just way out of control/hitting me in the face/not reflecting good form at all - and my working weight is only 115 lbs. Don't get me wrong, definitely don't rush it either.

Thanks! All credit to Rippetoe on the self-teaching, he comes off pompously, but SS is very well written from a technical perspective.

Totally know what you mean. It seems we have similar times all around - I ran my 10k at an 8:08 pace, so according to the various calculators, I'm supposed to be able to run a half at around an 8:30 pace (Galloway says 8:29, McMillan says 8:34). That just seems like a bombout waiting to happen though - especially for my first. Like you, I figure a 9:00 pace is a healthy goal. Anyway, your race is next weekend, right? I can't wait to hear about it!

Week 1 Roundup! Diet adherence has been great. The weekend was a little tougher than I expected from an IF perspective. I'm already typically hungrier on weekends than I am on weekdays. I don't know if that's because I'm up moving around all weekend instead of sitting in front of a computer like a slug, or because when I'm at work I'm caught up on conference calls and Webexes and the like so I forget to be hungry, but whatever the case, I'm usually hungrier on the weekends. IF definitely compounded this...especially before the feeding window opened. I was so hungry both Saturday and Sunday morning. I ended up +100-200 calories or so compared to my targets both days, but maintained the ratios and feeding windows so felt good about that. Went to the high school track again on Saturday to try the timed mile again. No lacrosse game this time, but an actual track meet. No go again. Fortunately, I had my wife drop me off with the dog this time, so I ran around for a while and jogged home - about 5 miles in total. Back up to a long run next weekend. I finally got the track to myself on Sunday to do the mile. 6:55 - not real thrilled with that to be honest. I mean, it's only 6 seconds off of my PR, but I was expecting better. I just didn't have it yesterday - the second half drug ass. It's possible that running it fasted hurt my performance, but whatever the case - I just didn't feel great about the effort. MobilityWODs - I love these. I wish I was less lazy about them, because I'm always happy with myself for doing them, but I never seem to make it a priority to set aside the 10 minutes. Here were the three I got done this week: Posterior Chain - liked this one. Next time I have more time at the gym, I am going to do this one before squatting, see if I feel a difference. Calf Recovery - did this one after my run on Saturday. Ouch ouch ouch, ahhhhhh. Chair of Slow Death - ok, this was a little cheapie. Not very intense, and did it while I was working late last night. The whole idea is great though - just because I'm sitting in a chair all day (you know, dying a slow death), doesn't mean I can't be mobilizing. Even when I'm not making an active effort to stretch out my business, it's a good reminder to keep my posture up and my core engaged, rather than sitting like a blob of goo. Body composition update - I assessed my body comp a few different ways this morning, all within about an hour of each other. I figure none of these are right, but tracking the progress of all 3 over the next 5 weeks should give me a pretty good idea of how well I'm doing. Home scale weight: 174.8 lbs Home scale BF%: 15.6% Navy BF%: 18.1% Gym scale weight: 177.6 lbs Gym scale BF%: 12.9% The scale at the gym is one of these - it spit out a ton of data, most of which I could confirm by looking in a mirror. I've got a lot of lean mass in my legs (compared to the rest of my body) - something I noticed when I saw these pictures from my last race and went "zomg, I do have muscles!" Also, my right arm has sizably more lean mass than my left - again, something that was not a surprise to me based on appearance. I just can't see that BF% being right though. The machine claims accuracy by sending 3 different frequencies through for electrical impedance, which apparently move through fat/water/muscle differently. The trainer who did my assessment theorizes that I carry almost all of my fat in my abdomen, but whatever. I guess the actual number doesn't matter so much, as much as moving it in the downward direction over the next 5 weeks. Speaking of the trainer who did my analysis - after I was done with the scale, he asked me what I wanted to work on. Apparently your first analysis comes with a free session so they can try to sell you more, or something (based on my wife's experience, I think they have a boiler plate beginner's assessment that they usually do, but with all I had told this guy about what I was doing, he could tell I wasn't interested in changing up my program). Turns out he was a powerlifting instructor so I had him take a look at my squat and power clean form. It went surprisingly well - both from the standpoint that my form wasn't terrible, and the points he gave me actually seemed useful, and not broscience. He was impressed that I had gotten as far as I had just teaching myself out of a book (Thanks Rip!), especially with power cleans, which he strongly recommended against for new lifters. Anyway, considering how mortified I was of working with a globo-gym trainer, I was happy with it. With new form pointers in mind, I got in a good squat/power clean workout (didn't have time for anything else having done the analysis beforehand), but set PRs in both and felt comfortable doing them. Win.

Don't worry, I've been doing it for months.

I just didn't pay a lot of attention to the "goals" tab of the calculator - I figure I'll be able to tell based on my own progress whether it's working or not.

Amazing time, well done sir!

I love how the coffee picture is the most prominent image - and so true, that would be a dealbreaker for me

Safe travels! Enjoy the brief stay at home.

I was having problems yesterday, but logging out and logging back in seemed to work. It must have had something to do with the website update.

Awesome job Kelly!

Nope, only too many calories will stop your weight loss. Lots of paleo folks get well over 50% of their calories from fats (obviously good fats are preferable - check out MDA's definitive guide to fats here). Upping your protein intake as a ratio to total calories can help ensure that the weight you are losing is fat as opposed to lean muscle, however (assuming you are also engaged in some sort of resistance training). On the website, go to My Home --> Goals --> Change Goals --> Custom. You can put in whatever calorie targets and macro ratios you want.

Lol, do you guys leave blankets over your couch all the time? We bought a leather couch so the fur would be easy to clean, but our bed always has a grubby sheet on top.

Very impressive mile time - nice job!

Hmm, what are you eating with so much fat but no protein? Following the paleo basics of meat+veg, I find I get up to 170g protein in about 1600 calories, let alone 2000.

When my wife first got pregnant, Luke was immediately vetoed as a name for our son because she knew how often I would tell him I was his father. We named him Nolan, but I still do it anyway.

Where did MFP get that macro ratio from? The default settings are 55C/30F/15P. You can reset it to be whatever you want, by the way. Also, if you are coming up short of your protein goals - what are you going over on? Fat, carbs, or both? If it's carbs (which is what I'm guessing, given the super low target you've set for yourself), figure out what you are eating that is causing it and replace it with higher fat/protein foods (nuts, jerky, eggs, etc for snacks - or just add larger meat portions to your meals). It shouldn't be hard to get well over 110g of protein on a paleo/primal diet eating ~2000 calories a day. You almost have to in order to eat enough calories since you won't be eating the super high carb foods.

Lol, he definitely did. He was so confused when I put running shoes on (which he definitely differentiates) and didn't bring him with at first.

Lol, you and me both sister.

There's an awesome thread going on intermittent fasting. If you believe Martin Berkhan (the LeanGains guy), there's no research to back up the claim that eating breakfast (or eating more often in general) increases your metabolism (or rather, that research is poorly interpreted). Check out his "Top Ten Fasting Myths Debunked" post here. Anyway, lots of people have had a lot of success following LeanGains protocol, so giving it a shot for six weeks certainly won't hurt me. If at the end of it, it's not for me - then I'm ok with that too.

I was trying to visualize this in my head, thinking it sounded very very difficult. Then I realized that you weren't saying to do it one handed . Agreed!

Glad to hear it!

Poor Karma and Nox .

Aww, thanks! I would love to see you put one of these together sometime too!